Solar and wind energy provide renewable, non-polluting energy sources, as opposed to conventional non-renewable, polluting energy sources, such as coal or oil. Because of this, solar and wind energy have become increasingly important as energy sources that may be converted into electricity. For solar energy, photovoltaic panels arranged in an array typically provide the means to convert solar energy into electrical energy. Similar arrays may be implemented for harvesting energy from wind or other natural energy sources.
In operating a photovoltaic array, maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is generally used to automatically determine a voltage or current at which the array should operate to generate a maximum power output for a particular temperature and solar irradiance. Although MPPT for the entire array is relatively easy to perform when the array is operating under ideal conditions (i.e., the same irradiance, temperature and electrical features for each panel in the array), when there are mismatches or partially shaded conditions, MPPT for the array as a whole is more complicated. In this situation, MPPT techniques may not provide accurate results due to relative optima of the multi-peak power-to-voltage characteristics of the mismatched array. As a result, only a few of the panels in the array may be operating ideally. This causes a drastic drop in power production because, for an array that includes strings of panels, the least efficient panel in a string determines the current and efficiency for the entire string.
In addition, conventional photovoltaic systems provide a central controller that performs MPPT for the array. However, the typical central controller is unable to perform diagnostics or provide monitoring for individual panels. Instead, the central controller performs diagnostics for and monitors the entire array. As a result, the central controller is unable to identify individual panels that may be damaged, dirty, covered with leaves, shaded, or the like.